Rapper and producer Cadence Weapon (a.k.a. Rollie Pemberton) self-released his debut album, Cadence Weapon Is the Black Hand, in 2004. Pemberton's second effort, Breaking Kayfabe, appeared on Upper Class Recordings in 2005. Based in Edmonton, Alberta, he also writes for the online music magazines Stylus and Pitchfork.

Georgia–based musician and artist Jim White’s albums include Drill a Hole in That Substrate and Tell Me What You See (2004) and Where It Hits You on Luaka Bop Records. White’s debut album, Wrong-Eyed Jesus! (1997), served as inspiration for the 2005 surrealist road film Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus, directed by Andrew Douglas.

Currently based in Durham, NC, John Darnielle started making music under the moniker The Mountain Goats in 1991 while working as a nurse in a California state hospital. Recording on a boombox, he created a number of albums in cassette-only format for the Shrimper label. The subsequent releases of Darnielle’s band, which has featured a shifting roster of members over the years, include The Coroner’s Gambit (Absolutely Kosher, 2000), The Sunset Tree (4AD), and Transcendental Youth (Merge).

Formerly the singer for Brooklyn-based rock band Emma La Reina, Alina Simone has released a number of well-regarded records, including the EP Prettier in the Dark and Make Your Own Danger. Born in the Ukraine and raised in Massachusetts, Simone currently makes her home in Brooklyn, NY.

Chicago-based Josephine Foster released her solo album, Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You, on Locust Records in 2005. The singer/songwriter was also involved in two well-regarded albums from 2004: All the Leaves Are Gone (with her band the Supposed) and the eponymous debut album of Born Heller, her folk duo project with Jason Ajemian.

Autoparty was formed in 2002 as a side project of Christoph Gerozissis and Rob Keith, the bass player and singer/guitarist, respectively, for pop band the Baskervilles. The group, joined recently by vocalist Ana Breton, released its debut CD, Lumlight, in 2004.

Annapolis, MD–based musician Meg Murray is one half (with Steve Lowe) of the band August West, whose albums include Jones Street Sessions (2004). Murray, who has collaborated with a range of performers (including Eva Cassidy and hip-hop producer Timbaland) released a solo effort, Ready, in 2002.

Fort Wayne, IN–based rapper Sankofa (a.k.a. Stephen Eric Bryden) released The Rosetta Stone in 2004 on Beyond Space Records. Born and raised in Australia, he is also a member of the rap crew Society of NIMH.

Nik Clifford, Dominique Golden, Kate Squires, Fay Walsh, and Danny Wootton are Jesus Licks, whose EP The Band You Can’t Avoid (2005) is available on Norman Records. Since forming in 2003, the group has played in London venues such as Whitechapel Art Gallery and the 12 Bar Club.

Kevin Blechdom is Berlin-based Kristin Erickson, who in the late ’90s attended Mills College, where she founded the electronic band Blectum from Blechdom with Bevin Kelley. She has since formed her own label, Dudini Records, which released her solo EP Your Butt in 2002. Her albums include Eat My Heart Out (Chicks on Speed Records), which appeared in June 2005.

Grasshopper with the O.C.D. Bottle Factory is a side project of Kingston, NY–based Sean Mackowiak (a.k.a. Grasshopper). Mackowiak is the guitarist and clarinetist for alternative-rock band Mercury Rev, whose albums include Yerself Is Steam, All Is Dream, and the The Secret Migration (V2 Records). Mackowiak’s solo effort, The Orbit of Eternal Grace, was released on Beggars Banquet in 1998.

Singer/bassist Britta Phillips has been a member of the groups Ultrababyfat, Belltower, and Luna; in 2003, she formed Dean and Britta with fellow Luna member Dean Wareham. Phillips and Wareham, who live in New York City, collaborated on the soundtrack for Noah Baumbach's film The Squid and the Whale (2005). In the ’80s, Phillips, who also acts, provided the voice for the lead character on the animated series Jem and the Holograms and costarred in the film Satisfaction.